Our Nespresso coffee machine is well travelled. In the last couple of months it’s toured Canberra and Mudgee. Stayed in some pretty nice 
places and done its duty.
To some of you it probably sounds absurd that we’d take our coffee machine on holiday. But we love our coffee and frankly this machine does a far better job than 99.9% of the cafes we’ve come across.
So much so that we often joke that we’d like to walk into a café, tell them we’d pay for their cup, hot water and electricity so we could make our own coffee.
There is a delicious irony here. Barbara had one of these machines in Switzerland for years. But I said, “I don’t want to be stuck with one brand – there’s so much choice in the supermarket!”
But she prevailed. We’ve had one for donkey’s years (now on our 3rd machine – yes, we wear them out) and you couldn’t prise it from me for all the tea in China. And even though other companies make compatible (and cheaper) capsules, we still prefer Nespresso.
Which brings me to the holy grail in sales. Keeping a customer coming back and spending more. Preferably for life!
Forced continuity comes in many forms.
Bought a Gillette or Schick razor? They could give you the razor free – and have you buy the blades for ever more. Here’s a new service where you can get blades sent directly from Germany on a send till I tell you to stop basis! http://oscarrazor.com.au/#Deal
How about a water filter? At the low end you buy the jug and have to keep replacing the filters every month or so. And if you have an under the sink system – replacing the filter could be around the $100 or more mark.
Service companies offer a service contract. Your clients automatically enrol when they start working with you and you have an opt-out process in place meaning you automatically charge them until they tell you to stop.
Garden and pool maintenance, quarterly tax accounting, legal retainers, IT Managed Services are all examples.
If you genuinely can’t find some way of providing continuity for your product or service, consider offering a loyalty program.
It could be as simple as a coffee card from a neighbourhood café – buy 5 coffees and get the next one free. Or a hairdresser who offers free or at a discount every third visit.
If you’re struggling with how you could create a loyalty or continuity program, give me a call on 0414-913-334. We’ve helped a large number of companies just like yours create successful programs that bring in additional profits, day in and day out.
